Improvement in apparatus for precipitating gold and silver from solutions



r V W. S. LAIGHTON. Apparatus for Precipitating Gold and Silver from Solutions.

No. 108,158. Patented Oct. 11, 1870.

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WILLIAM s. LAIGHTON', or NORWICH, oonnncrrcn'rj Letters Patent No. 108,158., dated October 11, 1870.

IMPROVEMENT IN APPARATUS FOR'PRECIPITATING GOL DAND SILVER FROM SOLUTIONS.

The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making part of, the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM .S. LAIGHTON, of Norwich, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, have invented an Improved Apparatus for Precipitating Gold and Silver .from Solutions; and do hereby declare the following to bea full and correct description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of this specification and to the letters and numbers of reference marked thereon, similar letters and numbers being used in all the figures to denote the same part.

In the drawing- Figure l is a top plan;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section, taken indirection of line 69 Q, fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross section, taken in direction of the line a: a; in fig. 1'. l

The nature of my invention consists in combining two vessels, one to receive the solution to be precipitated, and the other the precipitant; and connecting them by an automatic apparatus that shall deliver a certain quantity of the precipitantinto the other vessel, every time it is filled, and provide for the discharging of the same, the quantity of the solution that receives the precipitantmeasured out, being governed by a hydrometer or hydrometric float, which is used to operate the apparatus.

- It is intended mainly for the use of pbotograpers, to recover the silver and gold from their waste material and washings of pictures, 820. Y

. That others may be enabledto make and use it I will proceed to describe its construction and operatlon.

terial, suitable to hold solutions of the metals-in acids. B is another box, placed above A, and fastened to it,to hold a solution of salt and water, or other precipitant.

a is a siphon, having one leg extending through the bottom of the box A, and it is made flexible near that end, by means of a section of rubber tube,

.1, or otherwise, so that the otherend of 'thesipbon may be easily raised.

b is a small pan with three sides, and is hung on a rod, 10, in a notch made to receiveit in'one side of A is a box, made of wood, glass, or other ma-' of the panb.

. This lever extendssome ways beyond the rod S, and has a hydrometeror float, 0,-hung on its end.

"O is a bottle, reversed, and held by a support, 0, on

which the lever 3' passes, which is attached to the end .the side: side of the vessel B, its mouth being placed other solution to be precipitated, is poured into the box A, all atoms, or in small quantities, as it is made (in photography)- in" developing or washing pictures, until the box A is fille tl'so full as to cause the hydrometer O to rise high enough to tip the pan 1),

which is weighted at/r, to balance its contents, far

enough to empty what fluidit received,*when down, over into the box A; The siphonwis alsocarried up .at the samctime by the rod S,-andtlie knee-lever g 'on' the horizontal aim of which it is caught, keeping thebcnd of the siphon above'the surface of the solu -tion in A, until the rod has'ris'en so high that the lower arm of the knee leverg is out of the groove in the block hand-at liberty to swing back, (see fig. '3,) and let t-hesiphon' drop, and, as soon as it is beneath the surface of the fluid inA, it begins to jrun-out -through it, and continues to until the box is'empty. In the meantime the hydrometer has descended, and drawndown the lever j and rod S, causing the kneelever g] to pass down by the siphon, so that-its horizontal arm shall fall below it, in position to catch it when it' rises again, (see fig. 3,) and the pan 1) has been tipped back by the lever so that it will fill with the saline solution again, in readiness to repeat the operation. I

If the solution-in the box A is weak, the hydrometor will stand lower in it, and consequently the box will have to be filled fuller to raise the hydro'meter high enough to empty the pan 1), and cast oh the siphon; but if the'solution in A is strong and requires morc precipitant, the hydrometer will stand higher in it, and will, consequently, empty the pan 1), and drop the siphon before the boxjs so full, and the same quantity of the precipitant will be pntin a lesser.

quantity of the solution in box A, thus proportioning the amount of precipitant to the strength of the solution to be precipitated.

From the box A the mingled solutions are received into a vessel, and the precipitate caught on a filter, or they maybe allowedto stand until all the metal is precipitated. By raising or lowering the bottle 0 on its support, the amount of precipitant taken in the pan each time may be increased or diminished.

Having thus described my apparatus, What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure byLctters Patent, is

- 1. The combination of' the nyurometric float O in the vessel A with the pan?) arranged in the vessel B, for the purpose of delivering automatically a precipi tant into a metallic solution, substantially as described.

2. The combination of the siphon a and knee-lever g with the hydrom'etric float, substantially as and for the-purpose set forth.

3. The combination of the vessel A, constructed with a float, O, siphon a, and knee-lever y, with the vessel B, constructed with the panb and inverted vessel O, substantially as described.

WILLIAM S. LAIGHTON.

\Vitnesses:

J OAB B. ROGERS,

WEBSTER PARK. 

